An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.

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Properties

Edibility Rating

Other Uses Rating

Habit

Annual

Height

1.00 m

Pollinators

Wind

Cultivation Status

Cultivated, Semi-cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of higher elevations in the drier tropics, where it is found at elevations of 1,700 - 3,000 metres. It should be possible to grow it as a spring-sown annual in the temperate zone.
Requires a sunny position. Succeeds in any moderately fertile soil in full sun[

Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.

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Oats are in general easily grown plants but, especially when grown on a small scale, the seed is often completely eaten out by birds. Some sort of netting seems to be the best answer on a garden scale.

Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.

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The seed has a floury texture and a mild, somewhat creamy flavour. It can be used as a staple food crop in either savoury or sweet dishes. The seed can be cooked whole, though it is more commonly ground into a flour and used as a cereal in all the ways that oats are used, especially as a porridge but also to make biscuits, sourdough bread etc. The seed can also be sprouted and eaten raw or cooked in salads, stews etc.
The roasted seed is a coffee substitute.
The seed ripens in the latter half of summer and, when harvested and dried, can store for several years.

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The straw has a wide range of uses such as for bio-mass, fibre, mulch, paper-making and thatching[